GROUPS AND TEAMS AT WORK
Assignment Overview
Signature Assignment: Written Communication, Introduced level

In this assignment, your written communication skills will be assessed. The written communication rubric will be useful for this purpose. In the course, MGT302, written communication skills will be assessed at the introduced level. In MGT407, they will be assessed at the reinforced level. Finally, in MGT491, your written communication skills will be assessed at the emphasized level. The grading rubric for written communication at the undergraduate level has been developed to measure student success in meeting the MGT302 Case 3 expectations. Rubrics for the other two courses are included in their respective assignments.

This Module 3 Case Assignment has two functions. First, it helps you develop and demonstrate your understanding of the topics in Module 3. Second, it will help to assess the development of your written communications skills. This Case will be graded using a special Written Communications Rubric, which you should review before you begin writing the assignment. (Students can find the rubric to an assignment from the course homepage under Module Activities, then clicking on the Dropbox link, then looking in lower right-hand corner for the rubric.)

Case Assignment

Portland State University. (2013). PSU helps New Seasons Market reach zero waste goal! [Video file] Retrieved from https://youtu.be/z3lyG4itNyQ Standard YouTube License.

For this assignment, your deliverable is a 3- to 4-page essay, not counting the cover or reference pages, of an analysis of the use of teams in the following case study scenario. You will draw on the background material and your analysis of the scenario presented below* to help you address the essay questions at the end of this case study.

Green Teams at Work: The Case of New Seasons Market

Teamwork is important at New Seasons Market Inc. (a privately held company). This is a relatively small chain of upscale grocery stores in the Pacific Northwest that are built on the ideas of local identity, quality products, and employee freedom to meet the needs of customers. Formed in 1999 by a group of people with similar goals, New Seasons Market operates nine grocery stores in various Portland-area neighborhoods. Though the look and products of the stores are consistent, each store is predominantly staffed by individuals who live in the local neighborhood, enabling each store to know the needs of its customers and create an internal identity all its own.

One of the ways each store creates that identity is through Green Teams. These teams are typically composed of up to 13 paid employees from various departments. Teams join together to address social and environmental issues of sustainability within each store and its surrounding community. The idea for Green Teams originated from a group of employees in one store that assembled to tackle green issues in their store. Corporate managers (who also have their own Green Team) agreed that it was such a good idea that now every store is required to have a Green Team. Each team meets monthly and reports to the company sustainability coordinator. Team leadership structures vary from store to store, with some Green Teams having a single chairperson who serves the team for more than 1 year, while other teams regularly rotate leaders or even elect two co-chairs to lead the cause. Teams act as liaisons between their department and the Green Team, help educate staff, and make recommendations to management. Store Green Teams also initiate community service projects and help maintain the waste diversion program.

Through this flexibility, each Green Team has accomplished a variety of projects in their store and local community, including wilderness and wetland cleanup, painting and weeding at a local elementary school, and helping plant gardens for low-income families. One suburban store even developed an intricate carpool program for employees to encourage a reduction in drive-alone car trips. As long as the Green Teams focus is on their local store and community, they are granted freedom and support from corporate management. Safety and Sustainability Manager Heather Schmidt explains, If there were too many rules, it could hold back creativity and passion. Having a balance is the key.

Comparably. (2019). New Seasons Market Employee Reviews [Video file]. Comparably. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/K909VpKbd0w. Standard YouTube License.

Participation in Green Team initiatives has developed a friendly competition between stores, and rewards employees who participate with incentives. For example, every time an employee joins in the staff carpool, his or her name is entered into a monthly drawing for a gift card. These values of support and encouragement are consistent throughout New Seasons company culture, where employees are valued for their personal contributions. As their Web site explains, To be a truly great company means that we continually evolve to meet the changing needs of our customers, our staff and the world around us. With these values, New Seasons Market has created a workplace that truly believes that taking good care of our co-workers, our customers and our environment is what drives the success of our business.

In what ways has New Seasons Market followed the steps for creating and maintaining a cohesive team?
What types of teams are the Green Teams?
How can we tell if the Green Teams are successful or not?
What types of problems might the Green Teams encounter?
How would you recommend Green Teams resolve potential conflicts?
What steps could you take to improve the Green Teams performance?
The essay assignment calls for a paper that is 3-4 pages, not counting the cover and reference page. This means that your professor wants your paper to be 4 pages because of the complexity of the case study questions, but is willing to accept 3 pages as long as they are 3 full pages.

* This scenario is also found in your Organizational Behavior text.

Organizational behavior. (2017). Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing Edition. Chapter 9. Retrieved from http://open.lib.umn.edu/organizationalbehavior/. CC BY-NC-SA License.

Upload your assignment to the Case 3 Dropbox. Be sure to review your TurnItIn Originality report. If the score is over 15%, contact your professor. You need to review the report and add any missing citations noted.

Citation and reference style instructions are available at https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/560/10/. Also see Trident University’s Student Guide to Writing a High-Quality Academic Paper.

You will find the following useful as you critique sources:

Cornell University. (2015). Critically analyzing information sources: Critical appraisal and analysis. Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/skill26.htm

Cornell University. (2014). Evaluating Web sites: Criteria and tools. Retrieved from http://olinuris.library.cornell.edu/ref/research/webeval.html

Assignment Expectations
Include a cover page and References page in your essay of 3-4